The TARDIS landed silently without even a lurch. That might have been because River was flying her. Probably not though. The Doctor was an excellent flyer thank you very much. Besides, they hadn't actually landed yet, the TARDIS was slowly pushing through the void protecting the- Nunnery? Facility? The point was, it would have gone just as smoothly if the Doctor had been handling the controls.
Moving on.
"Alright." The Doctor let out a long breath, turning towards his gathered team (no matter what Jack claimed, his TARDIS his team.)
"Good luck, I wish we could see how it goes," Alonso said, making a face. The Doctor's heart clenched, but it wasn't as painful as he'd thought it would be. She was happy, and he hadn't even known how worried he'd been about that before he knew. They'd already said their goodbyes, knowing time was essential as soon as they'd landed. The Doctor had patted her stomach, and wow, how amazing was the tiny life in there?
He sincerely hoped the baby would inherit his tenth regeneration's spiky hair, because that hair was freaking awesome. He wished he could have seen him or her. Hold the baby, just once. Precious life. He smiled, Rose catching his eyes grinning as she pulled her blonde hair back in a ponytail.
I suppose there's practically no chance of the child turning out ginger. He sighed.
"As soon as the second paradox is strong enough, you-" Alonso began, turning towards Jarrohn.
"He'll push the red button, you've told him five times." Rose pulled his hair fondly.
"How do you know there'll be another paradox?" Gwen asked. Torchwood had a certain air of... focus around them. It was absolutely fascinating. They even had a plan, like, an actually though through plan. There's a first time for everything. Gwen's words made the Doctor realize something very obvious.
"Oooh." He paused.
"What?" Amy asked, looking apprehensive. The Doctor grabbed her shoulders.
"Okay, so the next part might be a bit scary, a- a bit overwhelming. Take a deep breath." They simultaneously took a breath. "Good. Now loosen your shoulders," the Doctor instructed gently, demonstrating, Amy following his lead. "Right," he breathed. "We might find ourselves in a situation where we have to deal with three Jacks."
Amy's eyes widened, then she whipped around. "Rory, stay in the TARDIS!"
"Yes Rory," Jarrohn purred. "Do stay in the TARDIS." Amy looked a bit murderous, so the Doctor steered her over to her husband before someone got their eyes clawed out. Rory's sudden choking a few hours ago had almost scared the bejesus out of him. He'd been fine afterwards, actually looking better than he had since this whole debacle began. Still, scary.
Ill or not, insulting the Doctor's kissing skills: Not cool.
They landed with a gentle bump, almost un-noticable. But really, did River have to look so smug about it? The Doctor checked the screen showing the outside. They were in a large, empty room with white walls and a high ceiling. The corridor across from them was empty, leading in two directions. He pulled a few leavers, raising his eyebrows at the year: Five billion and thirty. No planet though, just this space station surrounded by a void protecting it. It excisted in time, but was protected by a void of no time. If you ignored what went on here, it was pretty damn cool.
"Everyone ready?" Jack asked, restlessly fingering his gun. After receiving affirmative nods and yeses from everyone, the Doctor put his hand on the door, then changed his mind, turning towards Jack.
"How did you manage to send me that Christmas card?"
"You're seriously asking me that now?" Jack asked incredulously, Amy snorting.
"He threw quite a hissy fit-" she began.
"I want to know," the Doctor interrupted. "It's been bugging me since I got it." He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
Jack snorted. "I sent it in the mail. Didn't you see the post stamp?" His smug grin made the Doctor want to empty a pot of beans over his head.
"Of course I did. A bloody mailman knocked on the TARDIS' door, handed it to me and wished me a spectacular Christmas." That had been odd, even by the Doctor's standards. Amy had laughed herself silly over his dumbstruck expression.
"Well there you have it," Jack shrugged, Owen's cough sounded suspiciously like laughter.
"You can't just have-" the Doctor spluttered.
"Doctor. The postal service is run by aliens. Seriously, haven't you seen the Men in Black?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
The Doctor's awesome retort was interrupted by a knock on the TARDIS's door.
-'-'-
Just as the Doctor called out a warning Jack slung the door open, coming face to face with... himself.
"I really should be used to this by now," he told no-one in particular. The past Jack didn't look surprised. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and black pants, the small silver blaster very visible against the dark material.
"Took you long enough," he snapped, clearly expecting to meet himself as well. Damn, but he had a fetching glare. "Where's the Doctor?"
Jack's jaw dropped. "How do you know about the Doctor?"
"Would it hurt you to run a lap once in a while?" his younger self retorted, frowning disapprovingly at Jack's stomach.
"Hey!" Jack considered smacking him-himself but was interrupted.
"I'm the Doctor, hello Jack." The Doctor quickly held out his hand.
"Peetha," Jack's younger self corrected him. "Agent Peetha Smythe. You're the Doctor?"
"Yep." The Doctor pulled a bit at his suspenders.
"Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor." The Doctor grinned, then glanced back inside scratching his arm, Jack following his gaze. Their three guests were still there, looking back at them. Jarrohn took Roses hand, her and Alonso waiving, then pushed the red button on the remote in in his hand. The trio disappeared like they'd never been there. Jack took a moment to commit Roses' grin to memory, wanting to hold on to it.
"We don't have much time," Peetha said, tearing their gazes away. "Doctor, you need to come with me." Torchwood stepped out of the TARDIS followed by River and the Ponds. "Just you," Peetha added, frowning at the newcomers.
"No way," Jack immediately protested. He knew himself, present and past, and there was no way he'd let the Doctor-
"I can't take anyone else because of the security. I only have clearance to take one person through." Damn. "Do you know how fucking difficult it was to fool the security system into thinking your... box didn't exist?" Peetha glared. Jack remembered the constant anger. He might not remember now but he remembered before and after. Frustration. Self-doubt. He wanted to reach out to his younger self and shake him, tell him to get the fuck out, you'll do things you'll regret for the rest of your life.
He wouldn't, couldn't, of course. Still.
"Why would you help us?" River asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. She looked gorgeous, gun pointing at the floor in a two-handed grip, leather boots up to her knees.
"This is wrong. What the sisters are doing, it's wrong. They have to be stopped and you can do that. But Ianto is dying and I'm guessing you're here for him?" At Jack's short nod he continued. "He doesn't have the time it'll take for you to override security and storm this place." He pulled out a flat, blue square from a pocket, handing it to River. "These are the blueprints," he explained. "We'll be here," he pointed, the square expanding. "Here's the main computer. If you manage to hack that you can get control over pretty much everything here. There is a security system, but if you block it-"
"No problem," Tosh cut in. "Just hurry. Save him."
"Here," Jack handed the Doctor an earpiece. "Keep us updated."
"Right-o. Off we go," the Doctor said, both of them running down the corridor.
"Can we trust you?" River asked shortly, nodding after the pair.
"Me, sure," Jack said. "Him, I don't know."
-'-'-
Jarrohn sat down heavily, face in his hands. Rose went over, rubbing soothing circles on his back as the technicians ran their scans.
"He'll live this time," she tried to reassure him.
"I wish I could have stayed long enough to know." He looked up at them. "I want to know my Ianto is alive somewhere. That one version of me didn't fail him."
"Jarrohn," Rose bent over to hug him. "You didn't fail him. You did all you could," she said quietly into his hair.
"The Doctor is there, that changes everything," Alonso told him, crouching down to sit in front of him. "He- I- We are brilliant." Jarrohn just nodded, swallowing thickly.
"Of course." He took a deep breath. "Of course."
-'-'-
"What's that?" Ianto's head was clear. He remembered the last few days like a dream, the details a bit fuzzy but he essentially knew what had happened. The conversations with Peetha- he tried not to dwell on them, obviously he'd forget them like he'd forget Ianto.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you." Ianto wanted to tear the cat's whiskers off. He gave her a pretty impressive glare instead. She paid him no mind, instead continuing to fasten electrodes on his forehead. She'd already done the rest of his body. Ianto would have teared them off, if it hadn't been for the minor issue of him being tied down to the table just like he had been in the beginning. Ianto focused on his anger, trying desperately to push away the terror and utter helplessness.
-'-'-
The Doctor ran. He was good at running. He'd had a lot of practice. Peetha didn't seem to tire nor hesitate, leading the Doctor further and further away from the TARDIS. He would be able to find it, he always found the TARDIS. Sooner or later anyways. Every time they came to a security control, Peetha grabbed him, letting the droids scan his eyes and told them he brought a 'subject' along.
"How's it going?" Jack asked. The Doctor tapped his earpiece feeling like James Bond.
"Lot's of running," he supplied.
"Tosh and River are working on shutting down security. Looks like it's gonna take awhile."
Peetha suddenly stopped, the Doctor stumbling to a halt next to him. "Are we close?" he asked, ignoring Jack. He hoped to Gallifrey they weren't too late. Jack was a good actor but the Doctor saw right through him.
Just this one. Just let me save this one.
"Yes." Peetha let out a long breath, frowning. "Give me a sec." He tapped his vortex manipulator, holding his arm in front of him. "High security," he added before the Doctor could ask. "They're changing him into a very rare species."
"Do you know which one?" the Doctor asked eagerly. There were some fascinating species out there, many of them would be long gone at this point. Peetha looked up just as the door behind the Doctor opened.
"Time Lord," he said softly just as the Doctor felt the sting of a stun gun in his back.
-'-'-
"Doctor? Doctor?"
"He's not answering?" River asked, quickly walking over to Jack, grabbing his earpiece, putting it on. "Sweetie? You better answer if you can hear me or I'm going to be very cross." River forcefully controlled her fear. If anything had happened to her Doctor heads would roll. Or at least cats would get shot.
Rory, who had not stayed in the TARDIS after all, gently squeezed her shoulder. River nodded shortly to him before getting back to work, trying to shut down security and take control of it. It had been easy enough finding the control room using the blueprints, it had only been ten minutes or so from the TARDIS. The nuns/nurses were swiftly dealt with by her and Jack, stunning them before they had a chance to react. Amy and Gwen were outside keeping watch, Gwen in constant contact with Owen back at the TARDIS.
Tosh frowned in annoyance as Jack hovered around her, reading over her shoulder, bothering her more than helping. "I am this close to un-friending you on facebook," she finally snapped, glaring at him. "Move over and let me do my job."
"...un-friend him on facebook?" Rory asked, laughter in his voice as Jack backed off, suddenly very busy with his vortex manipulator.
"Shut up," Tosh muttered, blushing, quickly typing on her laptop.
-'-'-
The Doctor squinted against a harsh light. "Welcome Doctor," a female voice said pleasantly. "I'm nurse Hilly."
"Hello. Mind turning down the light a little?"
"Not quite yet." He heard Hilly – his incredibly wild guess was 'Hilly the cat nurse' – take a few steps back. "He's awake. Shall we proceed?"
"With what?" the Doctor asked, trying to move, unable to as much as wiggle his toes.
"Doctor?" a familiar voice asked from somewhere.
"Ianto?"
"Yup."
"I'm here to rescue you!"
"... how's that going?" came the sarcastic answer.
"Eh- this is just a slight bump in the road," the Doctor assured him. He quickly tried to come up with a brilliant plan. It would have been much easier if he wasn't tied up. Hm, let's see. What do I know? I have backup that will come looking for me sooner rather than later as they haven't heard from me in awhile. Hey, maybe it's a good idea not to rush into things! Using communication devises and stuff. Nah, sounds boring. Right, what else? Peetha said- he said they were turning Ianto into a Time Lord. It almost felt like a punch in the guts. Which is impossible. Which is why he's dying. Why do they need me? And why did they choke the Rory?
"So," the Doctor said. "I have some questions. What did you do to Rory? And I demand you stop that at once, by the way. Why do you need me? And why in the name of sanity are you trying to create a Time Lord?"
"What he said," Ianto spoke up. "I've tried to get some questions answered-"
"Those were not for you to know," another voice interrupted. "We created a minor link with the other human to keep an eye on you. We needed a sample of your DNA to see if it would indeed be compatible with out subject's."
"Which you got when I mouth to mouthed him. And it was compatible," the Doctor guessed. "Ouch!" he exclaimed when the nurse stuck a needle in his arm.
"Indeed," the cat said. "The link is broken now, not that it matters."
"Why a Time Lord?
"It's for the greater cause, you're practically extinct. It's only you left Doctor, we had to at least try." She started sticking electrodes on his forehead and chest.
"So find a willing subject! And stop that!"
"No. We needed a perfect match. Someone from Cardiff, growing up soaking in the Rift-energy. Not only that, but someone who actively worked with it, getting even more exposure than most. Then it was Jack's connection to you, which meant he'd ask you for your help."
"You could have picked Gwen."
"We considered it, but then we saw the ship and so it was settled."
"...you didn't send Ianto there?"
"No."
"Oh." The Doctor wanted to ask more questions, because stalling is just as good as bananas, but wasn't given a chance as the cat stepped back.
"Proceed."
The light shone impossibly brighter, the electrodes seemed to pulse ice cold and hot all at once. He heard screaming, at first thinking it came out of his own mouth. He wasn't in any particular pain though, it was just... unpleasant.
-'-'-
"I've managed to hack into to surveillance," Tosh announced. The unfamiliar tech was a bit confusing, the surveillance being easer to understand than security so they'd switched, and right now she was thankful for that. "Let's see," she muttered, pressing enter, getting several pictures all at once.
"Well, something's definitely going on there," Jack said, pointing at one in the middle where they couldn't really see anything. There was a strong light on, obscuring everything else.
"You're standing outside the door," Rory pointed at the next picture where Peetha paced, looking anxious.
"I knew I couldn't be trusted," Jack muttered, frowning as he reached for the blueprints. "Let's see if we can find it on here," he added, nudging Tosh to make room for him. He quickly managed to find a map, comparing it to the blueprints. To his relief it didn't seem very far from here if they took a shortcut. "You done soon?" he asked River.
"One minute."
"Let me see if I can get some sound," Tosh said, nudging Jack out of the way.
-'-'-
Suddenly the light turned dark and the sensations stopped. He heard Ianto pant, whimpering.
"A historical event took place today," the second nurse said. "We've successfully created a Time Lord."
-'-'-
"Oh my god," Rory whispered. Jack stared, sure he'd heard wrong. He looked up and met River's wide eyes.
"I'm done," she said. "Let's run."
